American Airlines introduces mobile boarding passes

Back in August we featured The Mobile Traveler Challenge which looked at using only a mobile device like a BlackBerry to reserve, buy and check-in for flights and hotel rooms. One of the companies featured was American Airlines. In the article, I mentioned the only drawback to not using a laptop or desktop was that you still had to go to the kiosk at the airport to print out a boarding pass. I even commented that, Hopefully one day I’ll just be able to show the electronic boarding pass on my phone. Well, that day is here.

American Airlines has introduced mobile boarding passes at select airports. The mobile boarding pass, which resides only on a person’s mobile phone or PDA, includes a two-dimensional barcode. This barcode can be scanned at TSA security checkpoints and at American Airlines’ gates. That means that the screen of the person’s mobile phone or PDA will be able to be scanned just like a printed boarding pass.

{ad}American Airlines is introducing the mobile boarding pass program in partnership with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The program was introduced for domestic flights departing from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport today. On November 18th the program will be extended to include domestic departing flights at Los Angeles International (LAX) and John Wayne Orange County (SNA) airports.

Brian’s Opinion
I wish I could take credit for coming up with the idea of mobile boarding passes, but I’m sure the guys at American Airlines were way ahead of me on that one. After all, the airline was already using two-dimensional barcodes on advertising which could be scanned by a scanner equipped mobile phone or PDA to take the user to a specific website for more information about American Airlines. It was a great idea to use the same technology for mobile boarding passes.

I can see mobile boarding passes really catching on with frequent flyers. If the program fails I don’t think it will have anything to do with American Airlines or travellers. It will only fail if the TSA feels that mobile boarding passes somehow undermine airport security. Of course, I don’t really see the difference between an electronic boarding pass and a mobile one when accompanied with proper identification.

If the trial is successful it will be only a matter of time before we see mobile boarding passes rolled out to more airports and used by more airlines. I think the technology is a great way to minimize lines at airline counters and possibly at TSA security check points. I’ll be very interested in hearing how the trial goes. It could make flying a heck of a lot easier.